


A Long, 2-Week Flight

by acaciapines



Category: The Strange Case of Starship Iris (Podcast)
Genre: F/F, arkady is bad at feelings but thats okay, half of this fic is brian and krejjh talking bc i love them very much, krejjh has a tail and you can fight me on this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-10-29 04:08:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17800784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acaciapines/pseuds/acaciapines
Summary: They're five days and who knows how many hours into Brian and Krejjh's reenactments of their favorite soaps, when Violet realizes that there's a pretty good chance she won't be alive a week from now. And there's one very specific thing she wants to do before then.





	A Long, 2-Week Flight

It’s day five and hour whatever (supposed to just be a few hours, but that didn’t turn out) of what the crew has dubbed ‘Overdramatic Reenactments of Krejjh and Brian’s Weird Soaps,’ and Violet is crammed on the couch with Arkady and Sana. None of them really have enough space, but Krejjh refuses to angle their ‘production’ towards any other couch. Plus, this is the couch with the most pillows and it’s not really the spirit of things to just...move the pillows.

Violet has the moonshine bowl in her lap, half-full. She fell asleep for a few hours, but she’s awake now, leaning against Arkady. She’s got absolutely no idea what’s going on. Krejjh and Brain slipped into Dwarnian about an hour in, like they’ve done the previous days, to get into character, so all she has to go on are the context clues on their acting. They’re playing 17 characters between the two of them, Violet thinks—there’s only eight different accents, but seventeen different hats that are supposed to represent the characters. She’s not sure where all the hats came from, but that doesn’t matter much.

Right now, Violet’s pretty sure the current scene is romantic drama. Krejjh switches between kissing the air and kissing Brain, going through three accents and four hats as the scene drags on, while Brain stays the same character, but he’s…reacting? Violet’s not sure if he’s supposed to be mad or excited.

Obviously, Violet can’t speak Dwarnian.

She’d love to learn, but it’s not like she was taught in school, and she hasn’t worked up the courage to ask Brian or Krejjh for lessons. All she has is what she’s picked up from the two of them, which isn’t much. A few curses, and what’s probably ‘I love you,’ because it’s what Brian and Krejjh tell each other in soft, sweet voices, but for all Violet knows it’s ‘tax cuts’ and that’s just a thing between the two of them.

She’s startled out of her thoughts by Sana’s voice, breaking the white noise of Dwarnian. “We still have a lot of moonshine,” she’s saying, taking the bowl from Violet’s lap to drink the rest. “Don’t pass out on us now, Violet.”

“I’m not going to pass out,” Violet says, rubbing at her eyes. Maybe she’s been quiet, and maybe she was asleep very recently, but that doesn’t mean anything. She doesn’t have much to say, right now.

“We have three full bottles on the table,” Arkady says, “how much more is there?”

“I’d rather not say,” Sana says, “a worrying amount. We won’t have to be sober for a while.”

“Great,” Arkady says, “ask about Karaoke again when I’m much, much drunker, and maybe I’ll say yes.”

“You haven’t drunken anything yet,” Sana points out, “you just stare at the bowl whenever I pass it to you.”

“I woke up with a terrible hangover this morning and I’m not exactly into that happening again.” Arkady takes the empty bowl from Sana, places it on the table, and sighs. “Plus, I did drink. A little.”

“You lapped at the bowl like a fancy cat,” Violet tells her.

Arkady stares at her.

“What?” Violet says, and she yawns, “that’s what it looked like. Hey, did Brain just die?”

“Die!?” Arkady yells, and she stands, spinning to face where Brian is. Violet flops sideways onto the couch without Arkady to keep her up. She rolls onto her side so she can still watch the show. Brain’s laying on the floor, but he’s doing a bad job at being dead—he’s holding back laughter and waving a hand at Krejjh, as if to tell them to keep going. Krejjh’s lines come out choked with laugher, and their tail wags with mirth. It had taken a lot of working up the courage to ask, (and later lots sneezing) but Violet managed to figure out that Krejjh’s tail works rather similar to a dog’s, in term of body language. She’s still in love with that fact.

“He’s fine, Kady,” Sana says, “on the bright side, now Brian knows you care about him! How sweet. Mind refilling the bowl while you’re up?”

“We have cups,” Arkady mutters, but she grabs the bottle and opens it, pouring it into the bowl. Some of the moonshine sloshes over and gets onto the floor, but Arkady doesn’t seem to notice.

“Thanks,” Sana says once Arkady hands her the bowl. Arkady just grunts, and goes to sit down. Which she can’t, because Violet’s not into the concept of moving, and she’s taking up the rest of the couch.

“Hi,” Violet says, to Arkady’s face hovering above her.

“Hey to you too, Liu,” Arkady says, “mind sitting up?”

“Tired,” Violet says, and she stifles a giggle as Krejjh, half-hidden by Arkady in the way, scoops up Brian’s body in three of their arms, uses the fourth to jab themselves in an eye so it waters, and then trips over a pile of three hats. “Help me up?”

Arkady doesn’t say anything, but she offers a hand, and Violet takes it. Arkady pulls her up, and sits down, and Violet wastes no time relaxing against Arkady’s side again. She’s earned this, she thinks. They’re probably gonna be dead in a week, so it’s not like anything matters.

Back on stage, or, in the middle of the room, Krejjh rolls off of Brian, onto their back, and grins. “And, act!” they say, “or, scene? It’s one of the two. That’s all of season one! The tripping was intentional, by the way, both those characters die at the end. I think one of them came back in season seven?” They turn to Brian, head tilted and one ear flicked up. “Crewman Jeeter? Most of season seven is a haze to me.”

“Yeah, no, I lost what was going on after there was that whole side-plot with the teacher,” Brian says. The both of them are still on the ground, and neither make any attempts to move, though Brian does reach out to take one of Krejjh’s hands in his own. “Season seven was pretty…bad? I don’t know. Not bad.”

“Not bad,” Krejjh echoes, and shrugs. “Well, they probably came back. Anyways, what did you all think? This question is also open for any agents who had to listen to aaallll…five days of this? I hope you know Dwarnian, because you don’t even get our great acting to help.”

“Someone really did have to listen to all of that as a job,” Violet says, “someone is paid to listen to us.”

“Huh,” Krejjh says. Their tail thumps against the floor from where it’s splayed out beside them, the fluffy tip tangled and balled up on one side. “I think they should just pay me, instead. I have to listen to us talk all day. I’d be amazing at that job!”

“We’d all be,” Arkady says. She stretches out her arms, and stands, but this time, helps Violet lay back down. It’s nice. Kinda. Violet prefers Arkady being there, but she’ll take what she can get. “Well, I’m going to get something to eat. Does anybody want anything?”

“I’m good,” Sana says, “but maybe grab some water?”

“Yeah, smart,” Arkady says, “you three?” Violet shakes her head, as does Brian, but Krejjh perks up, literally. The ear not trapped in their mess of hair stands upright, and the other wriggles like it wants to join.

“Do we still have that hot sauce?” Krejjh asks, “because I just had the best idea ever. Moonshine…but you add hot sauce. Huh? Huh?” They wiggle their eyebrows, and Brian laughs.

“That’s gross, Krejjh,” Arkady says, her voice light. “But we're out of hot sauce. Probably for the better.”

“One day,” Krejjh says with a nod, “one day. Stay safe in there, First Mate Patel.”

“It’s the kitchen, but thanks,” Arkady says, and she leaves the room, the door shutting behind her. As soon as she leaves, Krejjh hops to their feet, shaking themselves, before they bend down to help Brian up.

“Really, though,” Krejjh says, “did you guys have fun?” They bound over to the couch, Brian following behind.

“You can ask us anything about the show,” Brian says, “between the two of us, I think we know it better than the writers. There was a contest, once, to write a script and have it be an episode, but we never got around to applying.”

“My one regret,” Krejjh says, “Sh’th Hremreh needed us. I had a dream we applied, actually, but then First Mate Patel was our boss and she kept saying our scripts weren’t realistic enough, and then I read over them and one was all in Mandarin, so I got Crewman Jeeter to help, but he doesn’t speak Mandarin, so I asked First Mate Patel, for some reason, but she got kidnapped, so we had to go save her…I don’t know what happened after that. I think someone died? This is all very off topic.”

“I enjoy it,” Brian says, “but yeah, thoughts?”

“It looked fun,” Violet says, “I liked…floppy sun hat? I couldn’t catch their name. They were the one who organized the party where you dragged out three blankets and ate little sandwiches, right?”

“Oh, Isunma!” Krejjh says, their tail twitching, “yeah, they were my favorite character until season two. Season two introduces eighteen new characters in the first two episodes. Most of them die in a ship crash, but still.” 

“Ship crash?” Sana asks.

“It’s the main plot for the next three seasons,” Brian explains, “it’s a conspiracy, but then that turns out to be a lie, but no, there was this other conspiracy all along! Me and Krejjh stayed up for two nights in a row trying to figure things out when we were able to watch the show as it aired. That was fun.”

“Awww, remember how you chewed through the pen!” Krejjh grabs Brian in a hug, tugging him close. “And the ink got all over our notes…and the bed…and then we broke the hotel’s washing machine because I’d never used a human one and you were too tired to know what a button was? Good times.”

“Why did you wash the blankets because of a pen?” Violet asks, pushing herself up so she was sitting, leaning against the armrest. “Was it that much ink?”

“We were very tired,” Brian says. He adjusts himself in Krejjh’s arms, and their tail curls loosely around his leg. “I think I was crying.”

“You were, and it was very upsetting,” Krejjh tells him, tapping him on the nose.

Violet stands, wincing. Her leg’s asleep, the kind of asleep where it doesn’t hurt, it’s just numb and impossible to walk on without collapsing. Cool. Hopefully this isn’t a symptom of the nano-bots Other Violet neglected to mention.

“Violet, are you okay?” Sana asks, starting to get up, “where are you going?”

“My leg’s just asleep, I’m fine,” Violet says, gritting her teeth and standing straight. “You can stay sitting. I’m just going to go check on Arkady. It shouldn’t take this long to get water.”

“Good luck!” Krejjh says, and winks. Violet ignores them.

“What are you thinking is going to happen?” Sana asks Krejjh, as Violet makes her way to the door, “you really think the two of them—”

The door slides shut behind Violet, and Sana’s voice is cut off with it.

Violet takes a deep breath, and makes her way for the kitchen. She’s confident and ready and absolutely lying to herself about those things. That’s fine. Maybe that’ll make it true.

Arkady’s staring at the fridge, when Violet enters, and she doesn’t say anything, just glances Violet’s direction before returning her gaze to the fridge.

“Is…everything okay?” Violet asks. She hops up to sit on the counter, and ignores the buzz of nerves in her gut.

“Yup,” Arkady says, “just watching the fridge.”

“That’s normal,” Violet says. She clasps her hands together in her lap. “Are you going to get water?”

“Soon,” Arkady says, “why are you here?”

“Checking in,” Violet says with a shrug. “Helping, if you want it. You want me to grab some glasses?”

“We’re out,” Arkady says, “that’s why there’s a moonshine bowl.”

“There’s gotta be more bowls in here, then,” Violet says. She twists around to pull the cupboard above her open, and sure enough, there’s plates and bowls and a single fork, bent almost completely into a circle.

“Oh, it’s Forky,” Arkady says, glancing over. “Was wondering where Krejjh hid it.”

“Forky.”

“Sana bought it,” Arkady explains. She takes a step away from the fridge, and joins Violet at the counter, grabbing the fork and turning it in her hands. “She felt bad for it. Krejjh likes to hide it around the ship, and whenever I find it, they give me a gold star sticker.”

“Do you have a chart or something? Violet asks, and Arkady laughs.

“Yeah, pinned up in my room. I’m not sure where Krejjh gets them. I’ve never once seen them buying sticker sheets, and when I asked Jeeter, he said he’s never seen Krejjh buying them, either, and considering they go shopping together literally every time…”

“Huh,” Violet says, “we should get going back to the others, then. I want to see you get a sticker!”

“Krejjh makes a whole show of it, it’s ridiculous,” Arkady says. Her gaze turns somber. “Guess this might be my last one.”

“Oh,” Violet says. She looks down at her lap, staring at her hands. What would someone do, if they found Forky? She’s known the fork for about three minutes, but it already has a history, a story. But if Arkady wasn’t there to tell it? Krejjh? What then?

It’s a broken fork and Violet’s not going to cry.

This is her plan. This is what they have to do.

If it fails, it’s not like she’ll be around long enough for it to matter.

“Hey, Arkady?” Violet asks. “Are you really okay with this?” She doesn’t look up, so she’s not sure how Arkady reacts.

It’s quiet, for a while.

“I assume you mean the plan?” Violet nods, and Arkady continues. “Well shit, Liu, I…yeah, we might die. But I’m still completely okay with it. Even if we do die, we’d still be doing something. We can’t just sit back and save ourselves. Like I said: humanity owes me. Plus, I don’t want the responsibility of being one of the last humans alive. Can you imagine?”

“Yeah,” Violet agrees. “Yeah.”

She hops down from the counter, staring up at Arkady. This is—bravery, she decides. 

“Arkady,” she starts, “what we’re doing is dumb and dangerous and there’s a pretty high chance we won’t survive past it.” She takes a deep breath, calms her nerves. “And I don’t want to die without kissing you.”

Arkady trips over thin air, and catches herself on the counter.

“If I’m overstepping you can tell me and I won’t be mad but…I don’t think I am. Unless it’s just me hoping and misreading things…?”

Arkady’s still silent, but her eyes are wide and her cheeks are dark with blush and Violet’s almost certain she wasn’t wrong, but right, that this might work, and she can’t hide the smile growing on her face.

“I’m just gonna…go for it,” Violet says, “is this okay?”

“…ye…ah…” Arkady says, dumbly, but she smiles, something small. She’s still mostly in shock, Violet thinks.

But it’s confirmation, and that’s what Violet needs. She’s nervous, but not butterflies-in-stomach worries, something looser, and her leg is still asleep and now it’s moved on to stabbing needles whenever she shifts it, but Arkady is in front of her and Violet is here, in this moment, and she leans in.

It’s awkward, because it’s a first, and most of them tend to be. Violet’s got hair in her mouth, and she’s pretty sure it’s her own, but she’s also kissing Arkady so the hair thing is more of a background annoyance. It’s nothing like what she thought it’d be like, when she was terrified she’d never work up the nerve to say anything and then she’d never get a chance and this would all be an unfulfilled maybe, the last hope of a dead woman.

But Violet isn’t dead. Arkady isn’t dead.

Arkady is the one to pull away first, and Violet’s not sure what to call the feeling that clenches in her chest when she looks at Arkady. It’s strong and beating and she likes it, Violet decides. She meets Arkady’s eyes, and smiles.

Arkady blinks. Looks at Violet’s lips, and then touches her own.

“Okay,” she says.

“Is that a good okay, or?”

Arkady laughs, breathless. “A good one, Violet, I—I never thought this would happen when we went to save you. Do you want…tea?”

“I just kissed you, and you’re offering me tea?” Violet grins. “Wouldn’t say no, though. Thank you.”

“I don’t know what else to do!” Arkady says, as she opens up the mini greenhouse. “‘Give her your mint plant,’ Krejjh says, ‘humans love gifts,’ Krejjh says. Well, Krejjh, what now?”

“Krejjh told you to show me the greenhouse?” Violet asks. No cups means no mugs, so she grabs three of the deeper bowls as Arkady grabs the mint.

“Yeah,” Arkady says, “thought it was stupid, but—well. I did it, didn’t I? And it worked. I guess. I think? We kissed.”

“Sure did,” Violet says.

“So! Tea!” Arkady turns back to Violet, holding the mint. There’s nothing to boil water in other than a pot, and Violet doesn’t feel like getting one, so she pours water directly into the largest of the bowls, and sets it on the stove, turning the heat up. Arkady puts the mint in one of the empty bowls, and they wait.

It’s unbearable to stand after about three seconds, so Violet goes to sit at the table. “My leg’s asleep,” she explains, when Arkady asks if she’s okay.

“When we were kissing?” Arkady asks, and when Violet nods, says, “we could’ve sat down!”

“It’s fine,” Violet says, “but…I wouldn’t complain if you wanted to do that now.” She’s maybe got a smile on her face, and in her voice, and she’s maybe now got those butterflies in her stomach. A little bit.

“Yeah.” Arkady says, but she doesn’t move. “Violet, what does this make us now?”

“I was hoping girlfriends,” Violet says.

Arkady chokes on her own spit.

“If we die in a week it’ll still be my second longest relationship,” Violet continues.

“You know what?” Arkady says, “fuck it. Yeah.”

They kiss a few more times waiting for the water to boil, and it’s…cozy, Violet thinks. Arkady’s right. When—Kay Grisham, Arkady Patel, doesn’t matter—saved her, Violet never thought it’d come to this. When she first woke up on the Rumor, she never thought it’d come to this.

This is what her life is. Sitting at the table with her leg asleep, kissing Arkady and feeling like a nervous teenager on a first date. Well, she never dated anybody when she was a teenager, but she’s pretty sure this is what it’d feel like.

There’s a beep, and that means the water’s done.

“I’ll get it,” Arkady says, when Violet moves to get up, “we should probably head back after this, huh?”

“Probably,” Violet agrees.

“I hope Sana is okay,” Arkady says, as she makes their bowls of tea, and, after a moment, refills the largest bowl with cold water. “I said I’d get her water…how long ago? An hour?”

“Little less,” Violet says, taking her tea when Arkady offers it to her. It’s hot, but very, very good. She resists the urge to down the whole bowl and burn her tongue in the process.

 “Well, I don’t want to keep her waiting,” Arkady says. She starts to lead the way out, before stopping just at the door with a loud groan.

“What?” Violet asks, debating whether it would be worth it to burn her tongue just so she could carry the water bowl, so she and Arkady could enter the room holding hands and wait for everyone to react.

“Krejjh is going to be insufferable,” Arkady says, “they’re going to hold this over me for the rest of my life.”

Violet laughs, leaning into Arkady, because you know what? She’s not going to burn her tongue, but she’s going to do something. She takes another sip of her tea, and it’s warm and sharp.

“Well, might as well get it over with,” Arkady says, “just to double check, though, you’re okay with this? Us dating?”

“I kissed you,” Violet said, “duh, I’m into this.”

“Yeah,” Arkady says, “just—worried. That this is all some dream. I’ll wake up and we’ll never meet.”

“If this was a dream, we wouldn’t be dying in a week,” Violet says, “are you ready?”

“Nope,” Arkady says, but she’s the one to push the door to the kitchen open, lead the way down the hall, and to the door to the living room. She takes a breath before entering.

“Here’s your—” Arkady starts, but she’s cut off by Krejjh, running up to the two of them and grabbing them both in a hug, spinning backwards into the room. When Krejjh lets them go, Violet stumbles, her vision dizzy.

“COWABUNGA!” Krejjh yells.

“…Krejjh?” Arkady asks.

“Sorry, one second.” They turn to Brain, who looks rather amused by everything. “Crewman Jeeter, what’s the earth-English word for,” here, they change to Dwarnian, and Brian considers it for a moment.

“You mean ‘fuck?’” he says, and Krejjh nods.

“Yup, thanks bud.” They turn back to Violet and Arkady. Violet’s mostly recovered, by now, and she’s only a little sad about the few drops of spilled tea. “FUCK YEAH!” they yell, beaming, “finally did it! Thank you so, so much for kissing before the plan happens, you guys, I just won another bet with my beautiful fiancé here.” They gesture to Brain, and their tail curls up in pride.

“You bet on if we’d get together?” Violet asks, at the same time Arkady asks, “cowabunga?”

“One, of course we did, it was obvious. Two, it’s a very good word, First Mate Patel, I don’t know what else you want.”

“Just—you forgot fuck and cowabunga is what you go for?”

“Cowabunga is unforgettable,” Krejjh says.

“Fair,” Arkady says, and relents. “Sana, here’s your water. Sorry it took so long.”

Sana’s still sitting on the couch, but she’s got a grin on her face. “Kady, don’t apologize. I’m proud of you. You finally accepted your feelings! You stopped pretending they didn’t exist! You’ve grown as a person, Kady. It’s okay to be bad at making water.”

“I’m not talking to you for the next hour,” Arkady says, but she plops down on the couch next to Sana, and beckons Violet over. Violet’s glad to join her. It’s a little less weird to lean up against Arkady now, and even though Violet’s nowhere near tired, she does it, anyway. Arkady is warm and they’ve kissed like four times and they’re going to do it again, sometime in the future.

"I found Forky, by the way," Arkady says, "in the cupboard." 

Krejjh pulls two gold stars out of...literally nowhere, and slaps the both of them onto Arkady's nose. "One's for Forky, the other's for taking my love advice," they say. "Actually, here's a third—" they grab yet another gold star sticker out of thin air, press this one onto Arkady's forehead, "—for helping me win my bet with Crewman Jeeter."

Violet laughs. Arkady looks down at her, the gold stars glinting in the overhead light, and smiles. 

_Yeah,_ Violet thinks, and she grabs one of Arkady's hands, because shit, she can just do that now.  _I wouldn't trade this for anything._

**Author's Note:**

> this has been in my drafts since episode nine came out, but yesterday i realized it'd be perfect to post for valentines day. only problem, i'd only written about 400 words of it. so i spent all of last night finishing it, and now it's here, a day late. oops. 
> 
> but yeah this is such a good show. im here in the 'loving starship iris' corner and i dont ever plan to get out. it turns out krejjh and brian are my favorite to write, which is probably obvious from the OUTSTANDING number of tangents they go off on. this wasn't intentional they're just both very good space-spouses. i love them both very much. i love all the characters very much. 
> 
> also my ideas for the big plan is something along the lines of 'go to igr base where agent macabe is at and steal swarm from there' so lets see how close that is when episode ten comes out.
> 
> okay thats all. hope you enjoyed!

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[PODFIC] A Long 2-Week Flight](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20229322) by [miss_echidna](https://archiveofourown.org/users/miss_echidna/pseuds/miss_echidna)




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